NAIROBI: The Rwandan Government in partnership United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and One UN Rwanda have launched the Rwanda Innovation Endowment Fund (RIEF) to sponsor research and development processes and products. This is according to a press release on the UNECA website. Vincent Biruta, Rwanda's education minister said the decision to craft the idea of this fund came from a “strong belief that investing in research and development in innovation is a national imperative.” “Rwanda Innovation Endowment Fund provides the opportunity for Researchers, Entrepreneurs and Business people to work together in order to fully contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of Rwanda,” said Biruta. “The RIEF will bring individual's and organization's outputs to the market. The fund is intended to fund joint projects between researchers and entrepreneurs in order to produce locally applicable innovative technologies to spur socio-economic transformation of the country” said Antonio Pedro, UNECA's Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa director. “Supporting innovators, protecting their knowledge and commercializing their innovations is the essence of the RIEF”, said Aida Opoku-Mensah, UNECA's ICT, Science & Technology division director. The fund's establishment was a recommendation from a workshop earlier in January. The workshops theme was: “Unlocking the Potential of Science, Technology and Innovation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Rwanda”
